Flying to Kuala Lumpur
I had tracked my inbound aircraft and knew that it would arrive 30 minutes early. I headed from the lounge to the gate soon after midnight. We boarded early and left Kolkata for Kuala Lumpur 30 minutes early as well. Very AirAsia … you don’t want to go the gate late!
Again, I was on an A320neo but AirAsia’s ones are powered by CFM engines. Seated near the front, it was eerily quiet on take-off as well, but was accompanied by a high-pitched whistling sound.
As soon as the seatbelt signs were off, I took half a sleeping pill and put my eyeshades on. My backpack is too disgusting to use as a pillow (like I did on my outbound flight). I stuffed clothing into a strong plastic bag and wrapped my polar-fleece around it to fashion a pillow.
While I didn’t sleep, I would have dozed for three hours … that’s about the entire time after take off and before descent. We arrived into Kuala Lumpur 40 minutes ahead of schedule; very impressive considering it was only a 4h flight!
Continuing to Melbourne
I headed to the lounge for a shower and a light breakfast. It seemed like quite a long stay before I needed to go to gate. Really, I should have used the time to get duty-free brandy for my aunt in Melbourne as I didn’t know what was available at Avalon airport where I would be landing. I had booked my ticket over a year ago for peanuts and the airline shifted operations to Avalon only a few days ago.
Queueing to enter the gate-lounge, an auxiliary policeman (aviation security) told passengers that for Australian flights, we’re not allowed to bring water on board. I said I’d go empty mine in the toilet. But I went away and returned with the bottle inside my bag rather than on the outside. I was going to try my darndest to avoid paying big money for water on board.
On board, the rear cabin of the plane was full. I had paid to select a seat in the overwing area which looked more empty. And sure enough, it was! With three seats, it was a pleasant if not pleasurable daylight flight. It seemed a bit of a waste not to sleep but I needed only a 30 minute lie down during the whole flight.
I heard a rather unusual chime on the flight twice, each time followed by a manual announcement warning that smoking onboard was subject to large fines and imprisonment. So I presume that the unusual chime must be the smoke alarm being set off.
Arriving at Avalon
Lining up for final descent into Melbourne Avalon airport, the aircraft swayed and rocked in heavy winds. I thought we’d have to divert to the main airport at Tullamarine or at least go around. But as we got closer to the ground, things steadied and we landed about 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled arrival of 2130. I’m back downunder but not quite home in New Zealand yet.
The Australian quarantine officer boarded to inspect the plane and we were required to remain seated. I’m not sure if a specific risk had been identified eg. a sick passenger or whether he wanted a general look-around. I doubt there’s much one can find by just looking around the cabin and the passengers.
I said goodbye in Persian to the two Iranian flight attendants as we disembarked onto the tarmac and entered the AirAsia-branded international terminal building. I wanted to get a bottle of brandy for my aunt with whom I’m staying. I asked at the brand new duty free store; the airport had only started receiving international flights a few days ago. The two staff didn’t know what brandy was. They asked … Is it a brand of wine called “Brandy”?
I gave up with duty free as the immigration queue was getting long and I’d lose the advantage of having been seated close to the front of the plane. There were only three buses running to the city and I was afraid of missing them.
At immigration, there were no self-service kiosks even for locals. I got through the immigration desk quickly but there were a few interrogators standing behind randomly picking up passengers for brief questioning. They kinda occupied themselves full-time with questioning passengers rather than just the odd ones. I was asked if I worked for the military … I really shouldn’t get my hair cut so short (it has been three weeks though) and perhaps I should change my backpack. Then the quarantine people at the next station asked a few questions. It seemed like the all the immigration and quarantine staff here were new and “new broom sweeps clean”.
Right outside, the double decker Skybus was waiting. For a limited time, the rides into Melbourne were free rather than AUD22 (about AUD4 more than from Tullamarine airport). We left nearly empty because they left on-time rather than waiting a little longer for more passengers.
While Avalon is much further than Tullamarine, it didn’t take much longer at this time of night. About 45 minutes after departure, we were in Spencer Street Station. I had to Uber to my aunt and there was some difficulty finding the designated pick-up point as I was a little disoriented. That was actually the hardest part and I got to my aunt’s for a 4 nights stay around 2h after landing.